US Plains hard red winter wheat basis bids were mostly steady on Tuesday, with values underpinned by the winding down of the harvest. Traders said spot railcar wheat continued to trade in small amounts, while farmer selling stayed slow.
Damage to this year's crop from a freeze in spring and heavy rains later had limited the amount quality wheat. "Grain elevators are not selling as much as they usually do since they have the space to store the grain due to a lack of farmer selling," a Oklahoma trader said.
"Usually, their bins will be overflowing by now," he said. The USDA said in its weekly report on Monday that 58 percent of the winter wheat harvest was complete as of Sunday, with top wheat state Kansas 81 percent done.
In export news, Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) bought 120,000 tonnes of wheat at its tender, including 60,000 tonnes of US soft red winter wheat for August 11-20 shipment.
Kansas City Board of Trade July wheat futures ended 13 cents lower at $5.98 per bushel on Monday, while September closed 11-3/4 cents lower at $5.90-3/4. In overnight trade, July was untraded, and September was up 3 cents at $5.93-3/4. Futures were expected to open 2 to 4 cents higher on Tuesday, supported by the sale to GASC.